Low-power, personal area networks such as ZigBee, Z-Wave, Insteon, JenNet-IP, X10 or similar are becoming increasingly prevalent. Appliances, lighting, heating and cooling, security and monitoring systems, entertainment systems, communications, lawn sprinklers, etc., now include control microprocessors and wireless communication devices to allow for wireless connection to the home network. This allows control of these devices to reside in smartphones, PDAs, laptop computers, desktop computers or other devices on which a user-friendly software control interface exists, or control may reside in a network cloud, with the only the interface being local.
Several different ways exist to organize and configure these networks. Existing technologies can associate the home devices into groups based on the ability to communicate using visible light, ultrasound, infrared light, radio frequency and other communications technologies, enabling the devices to be organized into clusters based on the confined space in which they reside, as well as the kind of devices they represent. Integrating a microprocessor into the individual devices allows the devices to receive programming that enables a high degree of flexibility for the user. However, the large number of available configurations can overwhelm the typical user.
Most of the network technologies used here are relatively complicated and difficult for the consumer to use. Adding, authenticating and configuring new devices and types may involve hiring a trained technician to carry out the installation. As the costs of microprocessor, memory, displays, radio transmitters and receivers and line of sight communications decrease, the cost of adding these capabilities to inexpensive and even disposable consumer products becomes possible. This will lead to a new set of challenges for the consumers and the networks.